


Finding a Family

by UndertaleTrashBin



Series: Mini Skelebros Aboveground [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (kinda but not too heavy on the angst tbh), Angst, Childhood Trauma, Depression, Fluff, Gen, Homelessness, I guess trauma is the best way to put it? jesus how do you tag things, Kinda suicide attempt?? Not really but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndertaleTrashBin/pseuds/UndertaleTrashBin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU in which Sans and Papyrus were kids when Frisk broke the barrier and, having made friends with Frisk along the way, are among those that first go to the surface. However Humans weren't so happy to see monsters, adjusting to life on the surface is gonna be hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pink Boots on a Stormy Day

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I think about adding random warnings just to throw you guys off like what if I put "Major Character Death" coupled with the ending of this? wouldn't that be hilarious haha.
> 
> Note: There is no actual character death in this series I just like to keep you guys on edge.
> 
> So with that this fic finally begins! This is the one I really wanted to write when I came up with this series and stuff so yay look forward to me being energetic about writing lmao.  
> Beta'd by belzarvie.tumblr.com and written by undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com
> 
> If you like this au and have questions, drop them by my tumblr!

Papyrus sat up as soon as he was awake, accidentally knocking his head against the cardboard shielding him and his brother from the weather. Sans, per usual, was still asleep. The buildings they had settled between weren’t yet claimed due to the proximity to the human side of town. Their little nook was on the outskirts of New New home, and monsters were scared on the surface. It’d been less than a month since the city was officially given to monsters and human vandalism and harassment had been rampant. The two skeleton brothers had avoided the brunt of it, able to slip in and out of scary situations easily due to Sans’s shortcuts, but they still got caught up in it from time to time. Their goal hadn’t changed, it had always been about staying alive, but it seemed to have grown more difficult the longer they stayed on the surface. The hot days had all but disappeared, and they were left with this awful cold and nearly constant rain. For once it wasn’t raining, but the signs that it had over night were all around them. 

Papyrus quickly shoved his feet into the slightly too small boots Sans had gotten him almost a year ago. They were his favorite, covered in bright oranges and pinks, but they were becoming dull do to the wear and tear of the surface. Today he was going to Undyne and Alphys’s  to help them move into their new home. It was his favorite way to make a little money, they always gave him lunch while he was there. He wasn’t sure what Sans did to get money, but it seemed to work alright since he tended to hang around Grillby’s new bar. Then again, maybe he was making the money there? He didn’t know.

“Sans, I’m going to Undyne’s!” His brother’s eye socket immediately shot open, then groggily fell half closed.

“ ‘kay bro. say hi to them for me.” The older brother’s voice trailed off into a mumble as he fell back to sleep.

“I will!!” Papyrus slid out from under the cardboard and put on his jacket. It was damp and chilly today, so the jacket’s comfort was much needed. He also pulled the far too long scarf tighter around his neck. It could use a good wash if he ever got the chance. The poor thing fell into mud or was dragged through dirt more times than could be counted and the wear was really showing. Both articles of clothing were mostly dry despite being stored mostly out in the open, they usually doubled as a blanket or pillow.

The sidewalk was broken up by plants all along the unused part of the city. It made him trip more than once, but it also offered occasional presents. He reached down and grabbed a little flower that had grown between the cracks gently. Alphys had loved the last one he brought! Small puddles had formed from the rain that just never seemed to stop, he made a point to jump in them. It was nice that his boots provided a thick and waterproof layer between the water and his socks. As his walk continued into the town, the buildings grew further apart and shorter. Few cars roamed, but he waved at the ones that drove by, probably hard working monsters on their way to their jobs. Just like him! He hummed to himself, today he hummed Mettaton’s theme. Frisk had shown him some of the movie and he’d even gotten to meet the robot in person. It had been very exciting, he had made quick friends with him too! The theme was upbeat, happy, exactly how Papyrus felt. Any day he got to hang out with Undyne was a good day.

The neighborhood was still mostly barren, though he did see a few monsters out playing. Alphys had insisted on living in the suburbs, Frisk and Toriel had a house only a street over as well. The houses were all new for the most part, but they did have to kick out a large number of humans to make the city exclusively monster. Not that the humans really minded, they didn’t want their neighbors to be monsters, but there had been a lot of paying people off. Gold exchanges really well on the surface, apparently. Papyrus lit up and sprinted the rest of the way to the house when it came into his sights, stomping through the puddles and keeping a tight hold on his gift for Alphys.

He came to a stop in front of the dull looking door. His breathing was a bit heavy since he had hopped up the stairs to the door and ran all the way over, but he was recovering quickly. After all, his special royal guard training started when they all needed a lunch break! Eagerly, he rapped on the door with his free hand, holding the flower behind his back. It took a few moments, but eventually he heard the several locks on the door come undone. In the doorway stood a very tired looking Undyne, who put on a grin for him.

“Hey Papyrus!” She stepped aside so he could walk in, he slipped his boots off on the mat. 

“Good morning Undyne!! How are you today?”

“Tired. Do you ever sleep?! It’s six in the morning, your parents must be exhausted.” Awkwardly, Papyrus laughed before nodding.

“Sans hates it! But he sleeps all night!” It wasn’t a real lie, he reminded himself, he didn’t say he had parents, Undyne just assumed.

“Have you had breakfast? Alph’s just started some eggs if you want some.” Papyrus was initially startled, but grinned at her kindness as he followed her to the kitchen with his flower still in hand.

“Nope! I would really like that, thank you!” He crawled up onto a seat that had nearly become his permanent place at the table and grinned at Alphys. Undyne walked over and kissed Alphys on the head, murmuring something in her ear before the monster turned to Papyrus.

“P-Papyrus! You’re here e-early.” She chuckled and cracked another two eggs into the pan before taking a fork and scrambling the yolk and white together.

“Yes! I brought you another present!”  He held up the flower for her to inspect, and she took it delicately. Frankly, it was a weed, a dandelion, but it was admirable how genuinely impressed Alphys acted for him.

“It’s so pretty! L-let me get it s-some water.” Undyne grabbed a little cup from their cupboard, the kitchen was one of the few rooms that was actually unpacked, and handed it to her. Papyrus was positively beaming, kicking his sock covered feet in his chair as he watched the two bus around to set the flower somewhere nice. Eventually they settled on the window sill behind the sink, but flowers of similar caliber were all over the house.

“What are we unpacking today?” The question was asked, much like every other morning he was here, as Undyne took a seat beside him at the table. She held a large mug of coffee and took a long drink before responding.

“The guest room, Alphys had all sorts of cool stuff ready for it! It shouldn’t take that long.” Papyrus tried to hide his frown, disappointed it wouldn’t be a long day. He really enjoyed his time with them, and days that went long into the night were the best. Especially when he got more than one meal. Undyne gave him curious look before he put a grin back on.

“Then we should watch some shows first! What was that one Alphys was so excited about?” He looked to the scientist eagerly, who took that as her cue to talk excitedly about the Sailor Moon box set she had ordered. 

“A classic,” she raved, “you’ll love it, Paps.” Thankfully the TV was one of the first things the crew had gotten set up. Undyne began putting the show on while Alphys finished up breakfast, a large plate of eggs was set in front of Papyrus, it was so much food he felt like he could cry.

“U-uhh if you don’ l-like eggs I c-can make you something else.”

“Huh? Oh, no! I just... Thanks so much!” The grin he beamed at her could have melted ice or cured cancer or something because on top of being the sweetest monster aboveground he was also incredibly thankful. Alphys giggled and smiled broadly back.

“It’s not a p-problem, Papyrus. We really ap-preciate you coming over.” He began eating slowly, though he wanted to shovel it in as if it were his last meal. In a way, if he didn’t get lunch, it could be his last meal for a while. Food on the surface wasn’t nearly as easy to come by, the boys relied only on the kindness of others and what little money they were able to procure. Sans tended to got to Grillby’s where the condiments were free, he lived mainly off of ketchup and the overcooked, unsellable food Grillby saved for them from time to time. Papyrus would eat it reluctantly, he really couldn’t argue about grease when his stomach complained for just anything to eat. The eggs were beyond good, she had added cheese to them and it melted in his mouth. After a few moments she also set a glass of orange juice in front of him, and he savored every last drop.

“So h-how’s your brother?” Alphys knew she wasn’t great at small talk, but mentioning Sans always seemed to be a good way to get the boy on some kind of tangent. He swallowed before answering, remembering his manners.

“He’s good! A sleepybones per usual, but he’s been going over to see Frisk with me more often lately so that’s good!” Papyrus was back to humming a bit as he picked at the food still on his plate. She had really piled them on, not that he was complaining at all.

“Are you two going to go to Toriel’s school? She was trying to get everyone enrolled.”

“Uhm, I think so. Tori gave us some paperwork to fill out the other day and turn back into her. I hope we can! I bet it would be fun.” He grinned at the thought, just as Undyne hit play on the dvd player. The show’s music infiltrated his ear holes, super energetic and happy. He gasped and turned towards, the colors and art style very appealing.

They didn’t get to unpacking until after lunch.

________________________________

 

Sans woke up soaked and freezing. Rain was consistently hammering on the cardboard above his head, and the roof was threatening to give and any moment. He couldn’t remember how long ago Papyrus left. His small phone, scavenged from the dump and repaired by Alphys nearly a year ago, read the time as 10 in the morning. Thank goodness for the waterproofing spell the scientist put on it when she repaired it. With a yawn, he brought his feet further under the slight shelter the cardboard provided. He would head to Grillby’s soon, hoping the man had something other than bottomless ketchup to offer him. There he would ask if Grillby needed an extra hand for the day, if not he would try to find abandoned trinkets worth reselling or search for cardboard to replace their current roof. It had gotten quite damp due to the recent downpours and if it rained much more there wouldn’t be a point to having it up at all.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled a pair of tennis shoes that the soles were nearly ripped out of, but they still held up. Maybe he’d look for another pair of shoes today. Probably not. He adjusted his hoodie as an afterthought and slowly crawled out of their “house”. There was still a drizzle of rain, not too heavy, but enough that he’d be soaked by the time he made it to Grillby’s. He threw up his hood against the rain. Thankfully it wasn’t as far away as Undyne’s, he really didn’t have to trudge very far. The walk was peaceful, half of the way he didn’t even see anyone, only spying the odd monster here and there when he entered the commercial section of New New Home. It was nearly pouring by now. As he walked he spied Muffet’s new bakery along with a several other popular shops from the Underground. Even Gerson had a little trinket shop on the street.

Sans stopped in front of Grillby’s. The bar was a lot like his home. It stayed to its end of the street unassuming, only really seen by those looking for it. Grillby’s was dimly lit, but it was brighter inside than the near dark of the outside. He stepped in out of the rain, his entrance given away by the bell on the door. Grillby gestured for him to come to the bar counter as he pulled his hood down and shook the hoodie out as best he could. The effort was arbitrary, it was undeniably soaked.

“ ‘sup grillbz?” Sans spoke with the confidence of a regular alcoholic, much to the amusement of the incredibly small crowd present for brunch. Thankfully he didn’t recognize any of them, he would have hated to be caught by Tori or Frisk like this, his “parents” would never hear the end of it. Grillby shook his head down at the tiny skeleton. The casualty of the boy’s sentence didn’t hide his intense shivering, and he motioned for Sans to follow him to the back. That could only mean one of two things, the guy either had work for him or food; he would be insanely relieved by either option at the moment.

“Set your hoodie on the drying rack.” His voice came out in the crackle of flames, an odd sound to hear before 5 pm. Grillby disappeared into a closet. Sans wasn’t sure if it was less or more comfortable with the wet hoodie off, but at least it let his ribs dry out in the heated building. It didn’t take long for Grillby to toss him a white shirt, it was Sans’s size and everything.

“... thanks.” As much as he felt the need to protest seeing the brand new tags on the shirt, he was also thankful. Long sleeves would provide a great amount of warmth, and he pulled it over his head with a content sigh. There was extra warmth radiating from where Grillby had been holding onto it.

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry I don’t have shorts.”

“nah, don’t worry about it. these aren’t soaked to the bone like the hoodie.” He pulled at the damp shorts for emphasis, they had mostly avoided the rain because the hoodie was long enough to hang over them, but they were still pretty wet. Grillby just sighed and lead him back out to the bar. Sans took his seat at the bar, knowing that his pants would probably soak the seat. The warmth was comforting, he nearly laid his head down and fell asleep, but he would probably be put to work pretty soon. Just as Grillby was about to say something, Sans’s stomach growled audibly, making Grillby chuckle and head to the back. Sans felt himself flush and laid his head on the counter, hopefully that meant Grillby was getting him something to eat, maybe he’d let him sleep in the warm bar too.

 

Grillby began preparing a plate of fries and a burger for Sans, a more generous meal than normal. The kid was never fond of anything that didn’t look like Grillby was going to throw it out if he didn’t eat it, but Sans deserved it today. Grillby and Gerson were the only two that knew Sans and Papyrus were parentless, and even then only because Gerson had caught them sleeping in random places throughout Waterfall and Grillby because he kept insisting on a place to send the tab bill. Eventually the latter had figured out Sans didn’t have a place to send it and just waved the costs. After all, the kid was good company and a big help when he bothered to lift a finger. As soon as Sans had walked in that day, it was easy to tell he wasn’t faring well against the cold. It was late September and the past few days had been particularly rainy, much to the fire elemental’s displeasure. Despite his own discomfort, all he could think about was the potential of Sans and Papyrus being out in it. It hurt him to stay quiet, but Sans had insisted vehemently that he not tell anyone and he didn’t want to risk alienating the kid. He didn’t hold any real responsibility for him, and Sans had no obligation to come here, so they did the best helping each other that they could. His gift today was pushing their little friendship, but he didn’t feel bad. Sans looked so much better cuddled up in something clean and warm.

Grillby grabbed a bottle of ketchup before walking back out, a crowd was starting to gather, and Sans looked half asleep on the bar. The plate clinking against the surface in front of him made Sans snap his head up, and he relaxed at the sight of a meal.

“There’ll be a crowd today, it’s Sunday, so you can wait tables.” Already inhaling the fries on his plate, Sans nodded. Food and a job? Grillby was going to spoil him if he wasn’t careful.

“the dogs gonna be in?”

“Mhm.”

________________________________

 

It took a long time for Sans to realize Pap wasn’t coming back that night. It was nearly midnight, he’d been waiting awake for two hours already. Uncertainty scared him, Papyrus wasn’t one to just sleepover somewhere without telling him. He vaguely remembered it being an Undyne day, but walking down the street was scary... There was a curfew for monsters, he knew he was breaking the law, but there was no way he was going to wake up just to find that Papyrus had been kidnapped or beaten by humans or something worse. It was terrifying, and he gulped back tears as his mind provided hundreds of reasons for why he wasn’t home yet. On the surface, cell phone service costed money. Money they didn’t have. He had no way to contact his little brother.

At least it wasn’t raining anymore, his hoodie was pleasantly dry after Grillby hung it up and dried it with fire magic. The puddles were more pronounced, the few trees along the neighborhood dripped with water, but the pure darkness of the street was truly terrifying. Hopefully, Undyne would understand why he was there so late. More importantly, he hoped she wouldn’t ask questions about their parents. It was a miracle that Papyrus had somehow kept them in the dark about their situation already, but this wouldn’t help. His internal war between fear of the outside and fear of the questions that were bound to come kept him idle in front of the house. He distracted himself by imagining a world where he and Pap had their own house together, a cute little one like this on the surface where they could gaze out at the stars in comfort every night. No more fear, no more uncomfortable wet, no more pain from hunger.

Sans sighed and walked up the steps. Dreaming wouldn’t make it a reality. While he’s on that thought he might as well dream up a nice pair of parents too. His shoes scuffed the pavement with a satisfying ‘squelch’ before he decided he’d put this off long enough. If they were asleep, knocking wouldn’t get their attention, but he really didn’t want to wake Pap up if he was asleep. So he knocked, rapping on the door. There was a slight fumbling sound followed by annoyed grumbling growing closer to the door before it was flung open. Undyne, dressed down in pajamas and a robe rubbed at the space between her eyes in annoyance, not even bothering to look down at him.

“If you’re here to pick up Papyrus, he’s staying the night. You should really go home and get some rest to- oh.” When the royal guardsman opened her eyes, her gaze fell. She clearly wasn’t expecting Sans to be the one picking him up, her eye twitched in anger at seeing him. Sans shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

“uhm, sorry for waking you up. i was just getting worried and-”

“Sans, be real. Where are your parents? Do they neglect you guys?” She lowered her voice. “Do they hit you?”

“undyne i’m tired and i want to go home. if pap is asleep i can carry him.” The deflection made her gaze harden as if he had confirmed her suspicions. He went to step into the house and she stopped him.

“Nope! It’s after curfew and you’re breaking the law.” Sans gasped in surprise as she picked him up, reflexively grabbing her around the neck. Even Papyrus was heavier than him, and Undyne nearly threw him. “You’re staying here tonight, probably until your parents pick you up!” Feeling the need to come up with some sort of excuse for his nonexistent parents, he murmured to her.

“they’re just on a work vacation.”

“Yeah? Where too?” Skepticism was clear in her voice, and Sans didn’t have a good answer for her. He noticed Alphys was asleep on the couch, anime still playing on the television. “We moved Pap to the guest room to sleep, so you can sleep there with him. Do you want anime pajamas or cool fish pajamas?”

“does it matter?”

“YEAH! You were getting cool fish pj’s no matter what anyway.” Her walking nearly lulled him to sleep in her arms, especially the gentle up and down of going up the stairs.  _ Idiot,  _ he berated himself, struggling to stay awake, _ you need to be awake.  _ When they got to the master bedroom she set him on the bed. Bliss crossed his face, there wasn’t a more comfortable bed in existence than this one. Undyne didn’t seem to notice in favor of rifling through her closet. She chose a work out crop top, but it would still probably be a dress on Sans. “Uhhh, you ok with just a shirt?”

“wha-huh? oh uh, doe’dnt matter.” Seeing that he was already practically asleep, she just tossed him the shirt and walked back out.

“Let me know when you’re done changing.” She said on the way out. Sans took the moment to look around, reluctantly taking off his hoodie and new shirt. Before sliding the colorful crop top labeled “cool fish” on. It looked like something Papyrus would wear if they could afford it, and he smiled sadly before putting it on. It hung a little shorter on him than he was comfortable with, but the shorts were still damp and he didn’t want to get her bed wetter than it was from him sitting on the duvet.

“ok.” Undyne walked back in, her grin widening enormously.

“Comfy?” He shrugged and held his clothes awkwardly.

“what do you want me to do with these...?” They were disgusting, the hoodie especially, and Undyne almost hid her disgust perfectly before snatching them.

“I’ll take care of ‘em. Let me show you the guest room.” This time he yelped when she picked him up, only the thin layer of his boxers and the loaned shirt between his bones and her. It didn’t take long for him to relax against her again though, and he was asleep before they even made it to the dark room.

Pap’s light snoring was comforting, he looked so happy in snuggled into the warm covers, and Undyne somehow felt a sense of ease with both brothers there. She tucked Sans in next to Papyrus and on a whim kissed each boy’s head before grabbing Papyrus’s discarded clothing and going down to start a midnight load of laundry.

_______________________________

  
When morning came, the boys and their clothes were gone.


	2. Are You My Mother?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fuck ur emotions right in the heart butt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Call back to my fave childhood book "Are you my mother?" in the title. That swank ass bird asked all sorts of shit if it was its mother lmao.
> 
> I took the AP Lang test today someone please kill me.
> 
> Ok so seriously slight warnings in this one friends remember that kinda suicide attempt in the tags? Yeah that's this chapter bbs so be prepared for sad. Otherwise i think we're good, enjoy the feels my friends
> 
> Beta Bae: belzarvie.tumblr.com  
> Me: undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com

Toriel awoke with a start when her phone went off at 9 in the morning, lit up with a small picture of Alphys. The scientist wasn’t known to call people willy nilly, and even when she did it was usually Frisk she contacted. It must have been really important, even though the former queen was barely awake she answered as cheerily as possible.

“Hello, Toriel speaking.”

“T-Tori!! Have y-you s-s-seen the sk-skeleton brothers??” The lack of a greeting put Toriel on edge, worry lines made their way to her face.

“Why, no, no I have not. Why do you ask?”

“L-long story, but w-we need to find th-them!! Undyne h-has taken th-the d-day off to look, but w-we thought you might have their ad-address.” Her voice was panicked, words just flying through the speaker. It was enough for Toriel to spring out of bed.

“I should have it on their form, give me a moment.”

“Thank y-you.” They paused, Alphys’s movement was heard on the other line.

“Did something happen?” Toriel was not oblivious to the boys’ plights, she was aware that they had neglectful parents or something of the sort, but if that had escalated... She shuddered, not wanting to worry herself thinking of the possibilities.

“They stayed th-the night. Well, P-Papyrus was staying the n-night and Sans came by t-to pick him up at  _ midnight.  _ Anyw-way Undyne m-made him stay the night b-because it was past cu-curfew, but w-when we woke up they w-were gone and they l-left no note or an-anything and Undyne said S-Sans had seemed s-scared of something l-last night...” The rambling was fast paced with deep concern behind it and Toriel was doing her best to keep patient with the explanation. If the boys were in trouble, Frisk would want to go with her. She finally found and pulled out the enrollment sheet, searching for the address. The slot was blank. How had she never caught that before? It was a required portion of the form, technically they shouldn’t have been able to turn it in without it. She felt silly for not checking it.

“I’m... Afraid I don’t have an address. They left they left it out of the sheet.” Alphys made a startled noise on the other side of the line.

“W-will you help us s-search then?! We’re hitting the n-neighborhoods but maybe y-you guys could s-stop by the shopping district?”

“Of course. Good luck my dear.”

“Y-you too!” Her voice heightened to a squeak and the line went dead. Toriel quickly slid on her outfit for the day, not bothering to shower. Cleanliness could wait for children’s wellbeing.

“Frisk!” The tiny head popped into her doorway.

“Mom?”

“Papyrus and Sans are missing, do you know where they could be?” She began buttoning her blouse, wracking her own mind for information her small, punny friend could have given her by accident.

“uhm, Papyrus hangs at Alphys and Undyne’s house, right?”

“Indeed, but that’s where they are missing from.” Frisk’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concentration, thinking back to their many outings with the brothers underground.

“Sans likes Grillby’s?” Toriel stopped in her tracks, her blouse half buttoned and made a face.

“That bar?... A child?”

“Well it’s not like he’s drinking. I think he just likes Mr. Grillby.” Slowly she nodded, but it still wasn’t a necessarily  _ good  _ atmosphere for a developing child, no matter how kind Grillby was.

“The fire elemental, right?”

“Yeah! He’s quiet, but nice.” A confident smile graced Frisk’s face, the man had given them a free lunch when the restaurant was underground.

“We’ll go there then.” It was decided, Frisk ran back out to their room to change. By the time Toriel had her hat on, Frisk was already dressed and tying their shoes. “You might wear the boots, it’s been raining lately dear.” Both glanced out the window to the dark and fluffy clouds. It was almost nine thirty and still nearly pitch black out.

“Ok!” They grinned and slipped on the boots instead, knowing there would be many a puddle to hop in.

“Ooh, in fact, you might grab an umbrella, it’s not looking very good out there.” Toriel noted before grabbing her own on the way out along with her keys. It was important to lock your door on the surface, humans had a tendency to break in randomly. Before leaving, Frisk grabbed the cute like MTT brand umbrella. It resembled the magic from their fight with Mettaton. Papyrus would love it when they found him! He was such a big fan.

“Are they in trouble or hurt?”

“I’m not sure, my child. I hope not.” Worry set into their mom’s brow, it wasn’t a soothing expression at all. Their walk was mostly silent, they kept a careful eye out for their friends along the way. Grillby’s wasn’t a far walk, but it was clear Sans wasn’t there as soon as they arrived, the boy’s seat was vacant. They arrived at nearly lunch time, having been thorough to stop and look in the nooks and crannies of the city along the way. Frisk walked up and lifted themself onto the counter.

“Grillby! Do you know where Sans and Papyrus live.” The flame flickered in front of them.

“I do not. Is something the matter?” Thunder blasted from outside, rattling the entire building. Thankfully it wasn’t raining yet, but the threat was enough to keep the elemental inside.

“They’ve gone missing.” Toriel kept her eyes trained on the elemental’s face, trying to read him. Grillby cocked his head to the side, confused but not surprised.

“I saw Sans yesterday, they’ll probably turn up.” His tone was dismissive and Toriel narrowed her eyes at him.

“Alphys sure was upset.” Grillby flickered again at the accusative lilt in her voice, but also with concern.

“Good luck, Sans is good at not being found when he doesn’t want to be.” Frisk made a face, knowing this all too well.

“He’s the worst to play hide and seek with!”

“I’d imagine so.” He turned back to Toriel and made eye contact. “Check the streets, that’s all I can say.” Toriel quirked an eyebrow at the comment, but Grillby had already gone back to cleaning the counter. They took a seat at a booth and ordered a quick lunch. Grillby seemed to have sensed their haste, the food took less that 20 minutes to get out. Frisk picked at the chicken fingers, frowning a bit.

“You don’t think they’re hiding, do you? Maybe they got into a fight with Alphys and Undyne...” Toriel swallowed her bite and gave the thought some consideration.

“I believe Undyne and Alphys would not be quite so worried then, do you not think so? Besides, Papyrus at the very least is not one to just run from conflict.” Frisk nodded after a moment, agreeing. Sans may have run from a situation like that, but there was no way Papyrus would just leave when there were hurt feelings involved. They finished up and left the cash, plus a tip, on the table before Frisk began pulling Toriel out to the street. Large splatters of raindrops painted the ground. Each of them opened up their umbrellas just in time to not be soaked, it was raining,  _ hard _ .

Check the streets... Did Grillby know something they didn’t? She began to feel quite anxious. They began looking at the end of the street by Grillby’s, checking each shop along the way, but they, nor any other skeleton monsters, were in sight. By the time they reached the end of the street it was almost dinner time with no word from Alphys or Undyne. They almost turned back to check the neighborhoods with Undyne and report what Grillby had offered for advice, but an alley at the end of the shopping district caught their eye. There wasn’t motion or even a hiding place drawing their attention, but an idea suddenly occurred to Toriel and she gasped.

“Frisk... Did you ever meet their parents? Or see their house for that matter?”

“No.” They frowned, seeing where this was going. “Not even underground. They always just followed me around.”

“Did they ever bring up their parents?” Toriel’s stride commanded respect, and Frisk was having a hard time keeping up. Nearly half the city was abandoned, it was a lot of ground to cover. Every alley they came upon they paused to search, some were blown in with trash, others were empty. The sky was growing darker by the second and water ran rapidly down the street, flash flooding it. Thank goodness there were barely any cars in the city to be carried away. It was beginning to look grim as the border continued to grow closer. There weren’t any monsters out here, better yet children. No doubt you’d catch a cold out in the freezing temperature and the nonstop rain.

Just as they were about to turn back, Frisk spotted an unassuming little cardboard roof reinforced with several fresher looking layers and heard the low murmurs of talking. Then again, it could have been the rain pounding against their umbrellas. They pointed the shelter out to Toriel, and both of them took a step towards the alley. In the gentlest voice possible that could still be heard above the rain, she spoke.

“... Sans? Papyrus?”

 

Sans’s soul froze in his chest when he heard that warm and familiar voice down his alleyway. Toriel...? That didn’t make any sense, though. He must have been hearing things in the rain, after all, he had purposefully found an alley out of the way, a little corner of the world just for them that no one would suspect or accidentally stumble upon. Papyrus saw sheer panic cross his face and stood up to respond, his jacket’s hood barely keeping the rain off. Thank goodness it was water resistant, but Sans wasn’t doing so well in his hoodie. They’d had to make emergency additions to the shelter, but even still it wasn’t providing much relief from the storm. Water flowed down the alley way, pushing trash up against their walls and forcing them to sit in puddles. The way the wall was up provided a slight privacy, Papyrus’s head peaking just above it to look at them.

“Miss Toriel! Frisk! What are you guys doing out here?” Relief flooded Toriel’s face first, but then she just seemed horribly upset. The look made Papyrus uncomfortable, but Frisk just looked happy to see him. 

“I should ask you the same! Is your brother in there too?”

“Uhm, let me ask him.” Papyrus dropped back into his shelter and there was murmuring back and forth, followed by a large exhale of air. “He told me he isn’t home right now.”

“Did he now?” Papyrus gave a sharp nod and walked out from behind the cardboard to talk to them. He blinked as the rain fell into his eye sockets uncomfortably, quickly reminding himself to pull the hood further up on his head.

“Yeah! But why are you guys here?” Frisk held out their umbrella for him to stand under with them, and hugged the skeleton with the arm not holding their umbrella. Without warning, he let out a loud sneeze, and Frisk took their arm back with an ‘ew’ face.

“We were looking for you!” Frisk responded, smile returning to their face.

“Yes, you two worried Alphys sick!” Toriel looked less mad than worried too, though.

“What? Why?” There was pure confusion on Papyrus’s face, and they could hear Sans scoff loudly from inside the box. Toriel didn’t know whether to laugh at how poorly the kid hid or be annoyed with his lack of self preservation; Not home her goat derriere!

“You just left! Without saying anything.” She paused, sighing sadly. “How long have you two been living out here?” Sans felt himself tighten up, letting out a choked noise that couldn’t be heard above the pounding rain. That didn’t even leave room for him to pretend they were out playing, and Papyrus gave an awkward shrug after shuffling for a moment. He kept glancing back to the box as if expecting Sans to answer for him. It was practically crumbling around Sans’s shivering form, each raindrop threatening to fold it inward. Frisk spoke up suddenly, trying to break the tense atmosphere.

“You don’t have to stay out here, you know. You could come home with us. Or Alphys and Undyne. Or you know... Someone.” It was all so awkward. The moment Frisk had mentioned ‘home’ the sharp scent of magic filled the air. Toriel stepped forward to pull the box back, snout crinkling when her suspicions were confirmed by the puff of steam in the air. Sans had teleported away.

“Ugh! He always does this.” Papyrus stomped his feet to her side with a pout on his face. There wasn’t a single better person at avoiding their problems than Sans. Toriel looked at Frisk.

“My child, do you mind heading home with Papyrus? I will call Undyne if you call Alphys.” Frisk gave her a funny look, frowning.

“Where are you going?”

“To Grillby’s, I suppose, there are not that many places he could possibly be.” She just prayed she’d make it before he ran off again. Frisk nodded and followed Papyrus over to the box, he began gathering up his and Sans’s stuff to carry out of the rain. They began chatting about Mettaton on the walk home, Papyrus going on about how cool Frisk’s umbrella was before Frisk stopped him so they could call Alphys and confirm his safety.

Toriel practically ran to Grillby’s, while dialing single handedly, no longer caring if the rain matted her fur.

________________________________

 

Sans walked into the bar practically hyperventilating and completely soaked. He would have felt bad about making the floor wet, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Truthfully, he hadn’t meant to just run away, especially not abandon Papyrus, but all of his fears had just been realized. Never did he want anyway to find out that he couldn’t really take care of Paps, and now his little bro would get a cool family that wouldn’t want a broken kid like him. No one wanted to adopt a 1 HP monster that would just die in a few years, it was too hard to get attached to someone like him. Tears welled in his eye sockets, though it was hard to tell if it was that or the weather. The kid stumbled over to his seat as guilt crawled up his back. Grillby shot him a pained and concerned look, but he just laid his head in his arms and refused to sit up. Thankfully not many customers were in the bar, but the few that were could sense something was wrong with the usually laid back kid. The bartender set a bottle of ketchup beside Sans’s head 

“did you tell them?” Sans spoke, his voice sounded so drained, so betrayed,  _ hopeless _ . It was slightly muffled through the hoodie’s sleeves, but the accusation was bitter and ice cold.

“I didn’t.” Grillby stopped in front of the shivering child, ignoring the rest of his customers momentarily. “They were going to find out sooner or later.” Sans’s head snapped up and it was the most angry Grillby had ever seen him before. For once Grillby didn’t feel like backing down and letting him be, walking around from the counter to get closer to him. He flinched back like he expected to be hit.

“Sans, you wouldn’t survive the winter on the surface.” They both knew it, it wasn’t a secret. Grillby had hopes that they would figure something out, but it was clear they needed intervention. “It’s not like the underground where you can just walk somewhere warmer. People  _ die  _ by falling asleep in the snow. That could be your brother.” A growl began at the back of Sans’s throat at the implication that he wasn’t good enough to take care of his brother. In anger, he stood suddenly, turning towards the door for a moment before turning back to face his friend, as if he wanted to say something. Instead, the anger in his gaze fell to complete fear and anxiety for a fraction of a second. Grillby was right. He couldn’t protect Papyrus any farther than he could through the monster, and it  _ terrified  _ him. Sans swallowed back tears before turning back towards the door and running out. Grillby rushed to grab him on the way out and nearly scorched himself in the rain in the process. He stared out into the rain for a long moment before turning back to man his bar. There was no sense in killing yourself for a stubborn kid who would probably turn up again anyway. He did, however, shoot a short text to Toriel.

It felt like hours when Sans stopped running. With his head slightly clearer, he realized he didn’t have anywhere else to go. Both of the places he would call home had rejected him, even if one couldn’t help collapsing in the rain. So instead he just began following the cracks down the sidewalk, feeling the rain hit his head through the thinning cloth of his hoodie. It briefly occurred to him that he had somehow found himself in a part of the neighborhood he didn’t quite recognize. From here could see the valley’s rolling hills in the shadow of lightning and the vague outline of Mt Ebott. He looked back down at his shoes as he walked, they were ridiculously soaked through, he was practically dragging them through a very shallow river. A small, logical voice in his mind told him that he was being ridiculous about this, but it was already late and he was just tired. Too tired to bother going home. Too tired to face Toriel’s wrath. He kinda felt like taking a seat, though. So he did, he sat back on the curb and placed his chin in his hands.

Papyrus would be fine, he thought. Maybe he’d even get to live with Undyne and Alphys, they sure seemed to like him. After all, his little bro was very cool and extremely helpful. Useful. He chuckled, it hurt his lungs. He sniffled, his nose cavity burned with salt water. He picked at the grass and his joints screamed at him to never use them again. The water dripping down every divet of his bones was surprisingly easy to grow used to, though, it  _ was _ uncomfortable that his clothes clung to his bones. Eventually he stopped picking at the grass and his joints thanked him, but it seemed to make the cold seep in faster. Instead he began tapping his feet to the tune of some arbitrary song, a melody he wasn’t sure he’d ever actually heard. As exhausted as he felt, as much as the water pulled at his eye sockets and begged them to close, he couldn’t find it in himself to fall asleep.

He wasn’t sure if it was a relief when he heard the rhythmic patter of footsteps on the concrete behind him, but he definitely felt  _ something _ . The monster took a set beside him, and he instinctively curled in on himself, his feet’s useless movement coming to a stop. Sans didn’t bother to look at who it was, though he was certain they would reveal themselves sooner or later. His stare lingered on the reflection of the house lights in front of him in the water, distracted by its brightness in the void like reflection of the moonless night sky.

“Finally found ya’.” Undyne. Sans didn’t respond, though he suspected she expected him to when she paused for more than a minute. “Really? Nothing to say for yourself?”

“tired.” Was all he said. She let out a humorless series of chuckles.

“No shit, Sherlock, I’m sure tired and if you’ve been avoiding me all day I can only imagine.”

“wasn’t avoiding you.”

“No? Sure seemed like it. You’d make a great spy.” Undyne paused again for a long moment. When the comment didn’t prompt a response like Papyrus would have given her, she sighed deeply. “I’m not good at this emotional stuff, kid, sorry.” They continued to stare at the house’s reflection.

“How about this, do you want to know how I found you?” Sans only mustered up the strength to shrug because he knew it wasn’t a real question and she wouldn’t stop bugging him until he gave some sort of response.

“The house you’re sitting in front of belongs to a friend. A mutual one. Any guesses?” She paused like Dora the Explorer might have in a show and gave up after a few seconds. “No, it wasn’t Asgore. Not Muffet either.” She let that soak in, hoping he was actually giving it some thought. “Gerson.”

Sans actually turned to look at her, expression blank.

“Yup, he’s a good friend of mine, that guy. Not just because he was the old Captain either. Nah, he practically raised me.” He felt some irritation internally and turned to look out at the river of a street again. How nice, she had someone to look after her. “Guess it’s a royal guard thing, taking in strays.” Sans scoffed and grit his teeth. Cool, so his bro would have a place to stay that he loved. He should be relieved, but all he felt was physically numb and jealousy twisting in his gut. “Anyway, point is, I get being an orphan, punk. It’s not easy.”

“heh.” The laugh was half assed and pitiful sounding, Undyne’s brow crinkled in confusion. “it’s that ap- _ parent _ ?” The pun really wasn’t even a half assed effort. Undyne groaned, but was smiling. She stood.

“Ready to go home?” Sans stared up at her in confusion, then winced when rain fell straight back into his eye sockets.

“uuuugggggh.” He groaned aloud and Undyne laughed, he stood anyway. “where are we going?”

“Uh, home. Obviously, nerd.” Her tone was joking but reflected Sans’s confused expression. They stared at each other for a moment before Undyne smacked herself on the head. “OH. You thought- I meant- oh man that’s kinda awkward.” She let out a boisterous laugh, only knitting Sans’s brows further together.

“Sans, would you and Papyrus like to live with Alphys and I? We don’t have a lot to offer other than being super freaking cool and being able to beat up anyone who gives you a hard time, and you know, only slightly burned meals, but we would really like to have you.” They stared at each other for a long moment. Realization overtook Sans’s expression for a brief moment before it crumpled and he began sobbing. Sniffling pitifully, he rubbed at his face. Undyne felt dread and disappointment hit her. “Wow, hey, you don’t have to, I mean Toriel could probably find you somewhere nic-”

“NO!” He wailed, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head in her stomach.  _ Oh _ , Undyne realized,  _ These are happy tears _ . She kneeled down and hugged him closer, pressing his head against her.

“Let’s get you out of the rain.” When he nodded, she picked him up carefully, his arms still around her, and began walking home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When's the next chapter gonna be up, Raine?
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ good question theoretical reader. it's like ten pages and needs to be edited so who knows.


	3. Down With The Sickness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sick skele baby is a stubborn brat. Also light up shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> c: i've had this written for like two weeks but finally got to editing it today lmaooo. Finals are kickin my ass dudes, but at long last it's the last week of school.
> 
> Ey slightly longer chapter how's that?
> 
> If you have any AU based questions check out the MSA tag on my tumblr undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com and while you're at it check out the lovely belzarvie.tumblr.com (my beta reader!)

Sans was long asleep in Undyne’s arms by the time they made it home. She had texted Toriel when he had initially fallen asleep, telling the woman they would talk back at her and Alphys’s place. They were farther out than Undyne initially realized, though, and it was a major relief when they made it back. Mainly because Sans was shivering like a leaf in her arms and periodically sniffling and coughing in his sleep. Their house was the only one lit up on the street, and she walked up and knocked on the door. Alphys knew better than to keep it unlocked even while there were people there. The clicks of locks springing open on the other side were a relief, the door flung open and Undyne stepped in, immediately swarmed with fluffy towels.

“Oh th-thank god.” Alphys stuttered beside her, forgoing drying undyne up in favor of taking Sans into a heated towel. Toriel stood to the side having handed Undyne another; the guard wrung out her hair.

“Frisk and Papyrus are asleep in the guest room.” The goat monster suddenly looked much older than she was staring at Sans and ran a paw over her face before letting out a shuddering sigh. “How did we miss all this?” Giving up on keeping her hair up, Undyne undid the ponytail and shook out the long strands.

“He was scared. Of what exactly, I’m not sure. But he was definitely scared.” Undyne seemed to be calm, but there was a pain behind her tone. It was clear the kid had been through a lot, it hit too close to home. Alphys was very gently patting at the skeleton, frowning at her girlfriend’s comments. It seemed to bother Tori too.

“Of-f us?”

“Maybe?” She thought about it for a moment, Sans certainly hadn’t seemed glad to see her at first, but it wasn’t like he had run away either. “... I don’t think so, I think he didn’t realize we were trying to help him?” There were a lot of assumptions she could make on how Sans had acted, but he certainly didn’t seem to have realized that she was offering to help him at all. At least, until he hugged her and wouldn’t let go. Toriel looked surprised at the conclusion, but stayed quiet in thought.

“Thank the heavens for Gerson.” The former Queen eventually sighed out, taking a seat in a dining room chair. Undyne snorted.

“No kidding. I think he would have sat there all night if I didn’t find him.” All three went silent in concern. Alphys began to gently pull Sans’s sweatshirt off, startling him half awake.

“Shhh shhh, y-you’re safe.” He immediately relaxed, falling back into a slumber. It was both endearing and a bit upsetting. Alphys stood and began walking toward the stairs. “Toriel y-you’re free to stay the n-night, in f-fact we’d much p-prefer it.” Undyne nodded to her in agreement, this had been an emotionally charged night. “Do y-you want our bed?”

“Oh no, dear, I am quite fine with the couch. Thank you for the generous offer, though.” Toriel stood as well, popping her back and smiling at them both before moving over the couch and settling in for the night.

“Oh!” Undyne grabbed a knit blanket from the back of her chair, it had been a house warming gift from Gerson. “Here. If you need more they should be in the closet.” She gestured to the closet beside the television, Toriel nodded.

“Good night Undyne.”

“ ‘Night Tori.” Following her girlfriend up the stairs, Undyne began shivering a bit too. Damn it was cold in there. “Hey Al, maybe we should turn up the heat tonight?” Alphys perked up at that.

“I’m a-all for heat!” With a stifled laugh Undyne adjusted the thermostat at the top of the stairs accordingly before stepping into their bedroom. “Do you h-have shorts that will fit him? N-no doubt he’s soaked down to the bone... Ugh that was awf-ful, I’m sorry.” Undyne laughed aloud and kissed her before walking over to the closet.

“I’m sure I have something, it’ll probably be too big though. Eh, we can take ‘em shopping tomorrow.” Rifling through some of the older clothes she had wasn’t very fruitful, but her tight workout shorts would fit better than any of Alphys’s clothes. She set the shorts on the bed and began looking for a small shirt. Thankfully she had crop tops in bulk and grabbed a plain little blue one. Yeah, the kid seemed to like blue. When Undyne returned to the bed alphys had already swapped out Sans’s soaked shorts for the dry ones, they were quite large on his hip bones, and had managed to slip both his hoodie and shirt off without waking him. “Nice, sleeping beauty here was either as tired as he looked or you’re really good at this.” Alphys blushed.

“I’m s-sure he was exhausted, at least he s-seems peaceful now.”

“Mm, or it was both.” Undyne lifted his arms and put them through the holes of the shirt before slipping his head through. He didn’t even stir. “Well, he’s a heavy sleeper.” With a quiet giggle, Alphys took the now mostly dry Sans into her arms and walked out into the hall.

“Y-you change too, Undyne. D-don’t need you catching th-the sniffles too.” Papyrus had been sneezing non stop since Frisk and him had arrived, she practically had to make a blanket burrito of the boy to get him to rest.

“ ‘Course Al.” She hummed in agreement and began making her way to the guest room. The house was actually quite big, a four bedroom home, but they hadn’t imagined they would be filling the rooms so soon. It didn’t seem like a good idea to split them up so she walked into the room Frisk and Papyrus were sleeping in and slid Sans under the covers next to his brother. Hopefully Frisk would help keep the boys from running off again, but somehow Alphys wasn’t as worried about another little escape attempt. Before leaving the room she brought the covers up around their necks. Just the dryness of his clothes seemed to help a lot with Sans’s shivering, but hopefully the double layer of blankets would add another layer of protection. He immediately looked peaceful, snuggling down into the covers despite being fast asleep. Alphys chuckled quietly and left the room, heading back to her bedroom. Undyne just finishing braiding her hair to sleep in, having already changed into her own pajamas.

“T-tell me all about what happened b-between you two.” The smaller monster flopped onto their bed and watched her girlfriend move about their bathroom.

“There’s a lot to tell, Alph, but there’s a lot I don’t know.” She gave up on the bathroom and laid out on the bed next to Alphys. Alphys set a comforting hand on Undyne’s arm. “He wouldn’t look at me when I found him, just staring blankly at the ground. Didn’t seem interested in talking, kinda like he had already given up.” Her mouth turned down at the thought, that had to have been it. Sans had given up, but on what? Alphys seemed to be just as stuck, laying silently.

“M-maybe we should j-just sleep. W-we can ask him tomorrow.” She suggested, reaching for the lamp on her side of the bed.

“Sounds good.” Undyne agreed with a sigh, exhausted. There was a lot to think about but she frankly didn’t have the energy.

“N-night.” They shared a brief kiss.

“Goodnight.”

________________________________

 

The morning arrived and Alphys was pleasantly surprised that her snout was greeted to the smell of breakfast. Undyne had already left their bed, the woman was an early riser, but she groggily summed up the energy to slide out of bed. The promise of Toriel’s cooking should have really been enough to get her the rest of the way up. Her feet fell to the floor and she yawned, going to check on the kids before heading down. The clock on her side table read 10 o’clock, so hearing the loud voice of Papyrus downstairs wasn’t a shock, but the slight nasally tone of voice made her frown. Had he gotten sick out in the rain? Hopefully it would just be the sniffles and he’d move on.

The door was already propped open and there was only a single sleeping form in the bed. She made her way over, not shocked to see Sans tightly wrapped up in the duvet. However, his face was flushed blue and there was a slight heave in his chest every time he breathed. It pained her, she set a hand on his forehead gently. He was burning up. Alphys sighed with a frown and moved out to the hallways bathroom, only to find it locked.

“Occupied!” The small voice of Frisk shouted through the door.

“M-my bad!” Alphys moved to the closet next to the bathroom, it was filled with extra towels and sheets, but it also doubled as the first aid and medicine cabinet. She grabbed a clean rag and walked back to her own bathroom to run cool water over it. Using a finger she tested the water a few times, she didn’t want to freeze it, but if it was warm that would defeat the purpose. Once satisfied with the temperature she wrang it out and hurried back to the bedroom. Sans hadn’t moved, and with a gentle touch she laid it over his closed eye sockets.

There, that was about what she could do for now. They would probably have to stop by the store to pick up some medicine but hopefully the rag would keep him somewhat comfortable in the meantime. Frisk stepped out of the bathroom just as Alphys left the guest room, they smiled at her.

“Good morning!”

“M-morning Frisk! It smells l-like your mom is m-making breakfast.” Excitedly, Frisk nodded.

“She makes the best pancakes!” The kid nearly skipped down the stairs happily, Alphys trailed behind them. Undyne sat on the couch with Papyrus, both were deep into the Sailor Moon episode. They were lucky she had already seen it all or they’d be in big trouble for watching without her! Feeling braver, Alphys rested her mouth on Undyne’s head in a sort of kiss. She felt Undyne chuckle underneath her and watched her pause the show.

“Mornin’ Love.”

“Awwwwww!!” Papyrus stared at them, giggling a bit to the side. Had he been his brother, he would have made a disgusted face. But he certainly was not Sans and seeing his friends so in love was romantic to him. Both women blushed, and Alphys stood up straight again(not really tho cuz she bi af).

“I think Sans has a f-fever.”

“Oh man, really?” Undyne frowned before grabbing Papyrus playfully. “This one’s got the sniffles by he seems to be fine for the most part.” She gave him a noogie, and as if on cue and sniffled up snot threatening to fall.

“Don’t noogie the skeleton!”

“Too late nerd!!” The little scene was cute, Papyrus didn’t look too bad off. Alphys reminded herself to keep an eye on him though just in case. Frisk giggled at them and threw themself onto the couch beside the noogiefest. Papyrus’s squeaks of protest brought Toriel out from the kitchen.

“You two behaving out here?”

“When are we not?!” There was a humorously long pause. “Don’t answer that.” Toriel shook her head to hide her amusement, addressing Alphys.

“Good morning!”

“Morning T-Tori! I think Sans m-might have a fever.” Concern crossed her expression, and she frowned.

“I see, he will probably want to stay in bed then. I can try to see if healing magic helps after I prepare breakfast?”

“Thank you. S-so much, for breakfast a-and your help.”

“It is no problem!” The woman turned and made her way back to the kitchen and Alphys found a seat on the couch. It was a bit squished, but Papyrus didn’t seem to mind being held by Undyne. Sailor Moon turned out to be a pleasant distraction, Papyrus or Undyne occasionally throwing up their arms or yelling at the screen.

It wasn’t long before Toriel was bringing out plates of pancakes, the stacks seemed endless. They smelled heavenly.

“Do you mind if we eat in here? There is not quite enough room at the dining table I’m afraid.”

“Oh yeah, it’s no problem.” Undyne spoke, already shoveling a stack onto her plate. Thankfully they had a pretty good variety of syrups too, one was even Muffet’s own original recipe. Not forgetting the sleepybones upstairs, Toriel went to grab a short stack for him and head up just as Sans appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked awful, eyes half lidded, hunched with snot dripping from his nose, face flushed with his blue magic. Sympathy softened Toriel’s face, and she began walking up towards him.

“Alright back to bed with you.” Papyrus peered over the couch at him in worry,Tori’s voice distracting him from the show. Toriel took long strides up the stairs and scooped the small boy up with one arm, and switched the pancakes into that hand. Sans sat on her broad arm and leaned against her chest, comforted by the floof of fur despite the uncomfortable warmth it provided.

“nahhh, Tori ‘m fine.” He wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. “jus’ a li’l hungry.”

“You are not going at lying, small one.” She booped the top of his nose hole, making the bridge of it reflexively scrunch up in response. “And who else would these pancakes be for, silly bean?”

“oh.” He said, as if he hadn’t even noticed the plate. When they made it to the room, she set him onto the guest bed. He didn’t even try to stay in a sitting position, flopping back into the pillows more dramatically than he really had to. Toriel reached down to tuck him in, but he stopped her with a whine in his voice. “it’s hot.” She just nodded and pulled the thick comforter back, only tucking him into the sheets. The still damp rag sat on the bed beside him, and Toriel picked it up, folding it again and setting it on Sans’s head.

“Have you ever been healed before, Sans?”

“once, long time ago...” His voice petered out tiredly, he really looked like he felt bad.

“I see! I am going to try that now, ok?”

“ok.” Typically healing magic was only good at tackling the physical stuff, but it might be helpful for breaking a fever as well. She gently tugged his soul from his chest and began to flow her healing touch into it. Sans looked like he was about to fall asleep, so she paused for a moment and grabbed the other pillow on the bed to carefully prop him up.

“Sleepy?”

“always.” He grinned, raising a brow bone at her humorously. It got him a chuckle, but the woman was quick to get back to work. It was hard to do this effectively when the kid only had one HP since it required channeling out tainted or “sick” magic and replacing it with healthy magic. The skill only really worked on monsters, the soul was the only solid manifestation of monsters, the rest of the body was only made up of the magic a monster’s soul had available. The session seemed to help a bit though, and Sans relaxed back more into the pillows when she pulled away from his soul. It returned to its rightful place in his chest, glowing a slightly brighter and healthier blue.

“Now you have to eat.”

“tired.” Sans replied, already closing his eyes. She tapped him on the forehead, cutting a bite of pancakes with the side of the fork.

“Do not be stubborn, Sans. I am not above getting Undyne to force feed you.” It was a bluff, but the boy popped an eye socket open to look at her anyway.

“ok i’ll eat if you leave.” Toriel held the fork out for him, skeptically raising an eyebrow. “what? don’t believe me? i’m hurt, tori.” He held a hand over his chest with a frown. The fork waggled slowly in front of his mouth, the smell alone was enough to bring his tongue into existence in his mouth. Internally he cursed his magic for betraying him, Toriel just waited patiently.

“ugh fine.” Reluctantly, he opened his mouth, worried she might think it was weird. If she did, she didn’t make a comment, only pushing the pancake bite into the opening. He chewed grumpily, but it was hard to keep up when the pancakes were  _ that  _ good. Toriel seemed happy he was eating, about half way through the plate he turned over and buried his head in the pillows.

“Good gracious young man, have you forgotten your manners? I take it you’re done.” There wasn’t a real bite behind her words though and she set a hand against his forehead. “Do you feel any better?”

“mmhm.”

“One of us will come bring you lunch, too, so do not go trying to get up again.” He grumbled out a response, she flicked him on the back of his head lightly. “Do try not to be such a grumpy bones.” The giggle that prompted was reassuring, and she turned and began to leave.

“tori wait.” Her paw was on the door when she stopped.

“Yes, Sans?”

“what’s gonna happen to me?” She turned and gave him a curious look. Before she could answer he spoke up. “i mean i know they love pap and all but  _ i _ don’t want to be a burden. i can be on the streets just fine i’m only a few years away from being able to work legally and grillby usually has something i can do anyway and-”

“Sans.” She raised her hand to stop him and walked back over to the bed, taking a seat on the chair next to it again. “First of all you are most certainly not going to be fine out there.” He huffed in annoyance, the comment reminded him of Grillby’s warning about the surface’s winter. “Second, you are our friend. Had we known earlier this was the case, we would not have allowed you to be out there.” Unable to make eye contact with the monster, he looked down and picked at loose strings on the sheets.

“didn’t want you to...” Toriel frowned and grabbed the tiny hand in her paw, making Sans stop his nervous picking.

“Listen to me, now that we know and you no longer have a choice. We are going to take care of you whether you like it or not.” Sans wiggled his fingers in her grasp, her hands easily encompassing his single one in fuzzy little trap. Had she not been so serious it would have been very funny how thoroughly trapped his hand was.

“ok.”

“Alphys and Undyne are quite happy to have you,  _ both  _ of you, and I will not hear my friend being put down in such a way. Even by himself.” She kissed him on the forehead and released his hand. When she made her way to the door again he nearly called for her to come back and continue holding him, but she seemed to be determined to do something else as she strode out the door, dirty plates in hand.  _ don’t be silly _ , he thought,  _ she isn’t  _ your  _ mom, you don’t have one.  _ He laid back into the pillows, tiredly staring up at the ceiling. It wasn’t the kind of tired that made you want to sleep, more like the kind of tired that turns your limbs to lead.

It was boring staring at the ceiling; it wasn’t long before he fell into a boredom induced sleep.

________________________________

 

Papyrus was elated. It could have been partially due to the fact that his head felt like someone filled it with cotton so everything felt a bit more exciting. There was also the insane warmth of being inside and dry and seeing how cold and wet the outside was. It was relaxing to know for once he and Sans were safe and he didn’t need to feel guilty about hanging out with Undyne.

“Arms up!” Undyne demanded, he immediately flung his arms upward and nearly hit her. They both broke into giggles at that, and she pulled a too big, but warm, sweater over his head. It had purple and pink stripes, and he glanced over to Frisk suspiciously. They shot him a double thumbs up and a grin, waggling their eyebrows comedically. “Yeah, sorry, we had to borrow it temporarily. We’ll get you your own soon!”

“Really?!” He grinned at the idea, what colors would he choose? Probably red and orange, but he could go red and pink as well. Decisions, decisions. Undyne stuffed his arms into his rain jacket. It puffed up more than usual against the sweater but it was surprisingly comfortable. “Where are we going?”

“To the store! We’re gonna need more food and junk if you guys are gonna be staying here.” Papyrus’s eyes sparkled at the thought.

“We’re staying here.” The statement was almost a question, spoken with such awe and amazement that Undyne felt horrible for not asking sooner. Oh well.

“Yup! Whether your punk of a brother likes it or not!” She began putting on her own rain coat over a zip up jacket, then took a seat on the ground to shove her feet into her shoes. Papyrus followed suit, snatching his trusty pink and orange boots with excitement. Undyne eyed them for a moment, glancing to Papyrus’s feet. “Paps, do those fit?”

“What? Well... No, not really.” He frowned and began to shove them on anyway. Undyne stopped his hand and put them on more gently.

“We can get you a new pair today then! That’ll be our first stop.”

“But these are my favorite.” He looked so  _ sad  _ at the thought of getting rid of them and Undyne couldn’t help chuckling.

“If they don’t fit anymore then there’s no choice, buddy. We’ll find some that you like just as much!” Reluctantly, Papyrus nodded and stood back up. He adjusted his scarf over his face to brace against the cold, and Undyne knelt on a knee to help. She wrapped it an extra time around his neck to keep it from dragging and he made a face. The scarf was definitely too big for him and he looked like he was drowning in cloth. Undyne laughed. “Are you sure that isn’t a blanket?”

“No! It’s a scarf! Sans got it for me!”

“Ok, ok! Let’s go see if Alphys is ready.” She picked Papyrus up, tossing him in the air for a moment before settling him on her shoulder. He let out a screech of excitement and joy at the brief feeling of suspension, and both Frisk and Undyne giggled at his reaction. They ran up the stairs as Alphys walked out of their room, dressed in a cute army jacket style rain coat. Undyne stopped herself from oggling, instead kissing the monster on the cheek.

“You look beautiful.” Alphys’s entire face turned red.

“T-th-tha-Thanks.” Papyrus giggled at her and jumped in Undyne’s grip, trusting the monster not to drop him.

“YOU LOOK VERY COOL!” He announced eagerly, making her laugh.

“Thank y-you, Pap!” They began walking down the stairs, Papyrus swinging his booted feet.

“Are we gonna walk?? Or do you have a car?!” He gasped. “Do you have a car??? Man I want a car so bad, I’ve only been on the bus and in that police car and I couldn’t even enjoy the police car because they policeman was a meanie.”

“We do have a c-car but we don’t use it m-much.” Alphys responded. “It’s easier to just walk if w-we’re not leaving New New Home.”

“Oh. Ok.” He sounded a bit dejected, and Undyne burst in.

“We’ll take you on a drive though soon!! Maybe next time we visit the police station!” Papyrus didn’t seem to be exactly happy by the idea of going back to the police station, but the promise of a car ride was enough. They exited the house after waving to Frisk and Toriel, locking the door behind them, and began walking on the sidewalk. Papyrus was content to be carried, thankful that it was no longer raining.

“I think the b-bunny began selling clothes, right?”

“Oh yeah! Because her little brother couldn’t fit into the human clothes they shipped in.”

“A-and there’s always Gerson’s, h-he sells all sorts of s-shoes and trinkets.”

“We should go there first, actually! Papy’s boots are too big for his feet.”

“Papy?” Papyrus giggled at the nickname, it wasn’t one that Sans used.

“Yeah! Cute lil Papy baby.” Undyne sat him down to walk and grabbed his hand happily. He pouted a bit, grabbing Alphys’s hand as well much to the monster’s surprise.

“I’m not a baby!! Sans is the babybones.”

“Sans is older than you though!” The two women laughed at the disgruntled expression Papyrus made.

“Yeah but he’s smaller!” That made them all stop to think for a moment, continuing their stroll to Gerson’s.

“W-why do you think th-that is?” Alphys wondered aloud more than asking them in particular, Papyrus just shrugged and Undyne began to swing the boy between her and Alphys’s arms. The consistent giggling each time he swung put them all in a cheery mood again, and it wasn’t long before they were outside of Gerson’s. Undyne barged in, swinging the door open harshly.

“Gerson!! Do you have any boots?!” She yelled through the shop, prompting the old tortoise to pop up behind the counter.

“Wahaha! Good morning to you too, young lady! I believe so, for little Papyrus here?”

“YES! Hi Gerson!!” Papyrus gave a little hop to see over the counter, and Gerson patted his head.

“What kind would you like?” The response took a few moments, but eventually a small boot popped up onto the counter.

“Like this!! I like the colors.” They all chuckled, Papyrus stood on his toes with one foot in the air.

“Can do, I’ll be right back!” Gerson took the boot to the back and Undyne sat Papyrus up on a bench. She yanked the other boot off, careful not to jostle the boy’s foot too much. The skeleton brothers looked like they could really just pop apart at any time. ... Could they?

“Hey, Paps, can you like, take off your arms and stuff?”

“What?” He raised a brow bone at her in confusion.

“Like could you remove your limbs?”

“... I guess??? Why, do you want me to??”

“Nah, I was just wondering if you could.”

“I mean, it hurts a bit! But I could.” As if to emphasize, he popped off his top finger bone on the left hand with a wince and handed it to her. She took it in shock and gave Alphys and incredulous look, the yellow monster looked close to passing out. Papyrus just laughed and took it back, popping the finger bone back on without problem. “It hurts more the bigger the bone is. Oh!” He hummed happily as Gerson walked back into the room with a box of shoes. Papyrus was overwhelmed when he opened up and revealed a  _ better  _ pair of pink boots with orange trim to them. He was already excitedly reaching for them when Gerson stopped him.

“Ah, ah, that’s not all.” He winked to Paps as he clapped the shoes together and they started blinking a myriad of colors. Papyrus  _ gasped  _ at the sight and began bouncing his legs in excitement.

“I can get those?!” The boy turned to look between Alphys and Undyne ecstatically. Both grinned at his energy.

“As l-long as they fit!” Alphys spoke, and Gerson began to slip the boot on. It wasn’t perfect, they were just a tad too big, but the kid would probably out grow them in a year anyway.

Papyrus stomped through the rest of their shopping, showing off his boots to anyone who would look at them.

________________________________

 

Hours later back at the house, Sans’s sleep was dreamless, but at least he wasn’t having the crazy fever dreams from before. He was woken with a gentle hand on his forehead and a concerned looking Toriel. Seeing her look worried was interesting, she always seemed so composed. It wasn’t until she spoke he realized he was staring.

“How are you feeling?”

“hungry.” His voice was groggy and about as awake as he was. That is to say, not very awake at all. Toriel chuckled at him.

“Good! I’ve brought some chicken soup for your soul.” She tapped his chest and he laughed at the joke. Chicken soup wouldn’t affect his soul at all, but it was a popular book series. Somehow those books got thrown out a lot, the underground was full of them. He went to grab the bowl, but she held it out of his reach. Annoyed, Sans grunted. “I will feed you, open up.” The boy huffed stubbornly and turned away.

“Sans,” Her voice was stern and he scrunched up his nose in protest, “would you kindly stop being so stubborn?” There was a touch of amusement in her frustrated tone. The phrase struck him and he complied, turning toward her and opening his mouth for her soup slowly. She seemed a bit surprised at the change in attitude, but she wasn’t complaining about the obedience. They sat quietly while Sans ate, he wouldn’t have admitted he felt loads better after just a few bites. He knew they would make him stay in bed the rest of the day but he nearly felt ready to get up and play again. “Thank you.” She set the bowl down again and he pushed himself up.

“can i go play now?”

“You better wait until tomorrow just to be sure.” He groaned in annoyance and threw himself back into the pillows. Toriel shook her head and tucked him in.

“Are you bored? I could read you some interesting snail facts! There is this lovely website online that has even more than I have seen before! Some humans are so fascinated with the things.” She hummed and began pulling it up on her phone.

“sure, tori.” Sans didn’t have the heart (heh) or the guts (double heh) to tell her he wasn’t super interested. He kicked his feet, growing a bit antsy.

Several fascinating snail facts later, Alphys stepped into the room cautiously. Sans shot her a relieved look, hoping she had come to save him from his boredom.

“Oh h-hey.” She waved to Sans with a small knowing smile. “We just got back from t-the store, we picked up a hoodie f-for you Sans. Could you try it on?” Eagerly Sans sat up, but felt a bit shy at the generosity.

“aw, al, you didn’t have to.” The monster huffed at him. Toriel took that as her cue to leave, snatching the dirty dishes before walking out.

“We most certainly did! And we’re g-going back out as s-soon as you’re feeling well to get you all n-new clothes!” She pulled out a bright blue hoodie striped with green and handed it to Sans. It was really soft to the touch and he almost melted. He frowned at her comment, but began putting it on anyway.

“what’s wrong with my clothes?”

“When did y-you last buy them?” She countered. The skeleton popped the hoodie over his head and let out a satisfied sigh.

“uhhh... i don’t know i’ve just always had them. paps boots are only a year old though!! and uh, his scarf is pretty new. i also had to buy him jeans because his old ones went above his ankles. he’s so taaaaall.” Sans spoke a bit animatedly, happy to trail off on talking about his brother instead of himself. “oh, but if you’re getting new clothes he definitely needs some.” Alphys shook her head at him.

“Don’t you th-think he would want you to have new clothes too?”

“well yeah. in a perfect world i’d be able to buy him a house and a race car bed and all the figurines he could ask for, too.”

“Sans, you guys don’t have to just rely on each other now. You have us and Toriel and all of your friends.” Her voice was soft and kind and Sans felt annoyed suddenly, rubbing at his eyes.

“stop saying that.”

“I won’t until i-it’s not true anymore! So stop trying to sh-shoulder this by yourself!” She paused. “I know h-how tough it can be to d-deal with stuff alone.” A nervous habit that reflected his own, Alphys found interest on the scales of her hand. He felt a bit uncomfortable, not exactly sure what she was referring to and not really sure that he wanted to know either. The silence only raised the tension and eventually he sighed, snuggling into the hoodie.

“thanks.” Alphys looked up at him, confused almost. He glanced away under her gaze and felt a bit flustered. “for all of this, food, watching paps, letting us sleep here.”

“You knuckle h-head!” She giggled and he gave her a startled look. “This is w-what you  _ deserve,  _ we haven’t even done anything w-worth thanking us for y-yet!” Another bark of laughter fell out of her mouth.

“i think the term you’re looking for is ‘bone head’.” He giggled, and she looked relieved before hugging him tightly. It took a second, but he melted into the hug as well.

“That too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It'll probably take a week-two weeks to get the next chapter out so don't hold your breath. It'll be super cute and fluff filled tho so there's that!


	4. Target

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping day + Grillby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The human store is 100% based of Target in this I'm not even sorry lmao. Hey sorry this took so long, I've been trying to decide how I want to go about the next fic in this series so this one is actually ending sooner than I thought eheh. But hey have some fluff and slight angst.
> 
> undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com and my beta reader is belzarvie.tumblr.com <3

Both brothers had mostly recovered by the time Toriel and Frisk went home that night. Alphys and Undyne were apologetic that the boys still had to share a bed, but neither really seemed to have a problem with that. After all, the bed was a queen size and at  _ least _ twice as big as their cardboard box home in the alley. Papyrus had been de _ lighted _ (heheh) to show Sans his new light up boots, and puns didn’t seem to end until both boys were fast asleep.

The morning came and Papyrus dragged his brother out of bed. Sans certainly seemed to look better, but that wasn’t really a surprise; Toriel was one of the best healers they had. The two boys stumbled into the kitchen, well, Sans stumbled and Papyrus more hopped in, lead to it by the promise of food filling the air. Alphys stood at the stove, waiting patiently for the microwave while Undyne loaded two coffee cups with sugar and creamer.

“GOOD MORNING!” Papyrus let go of Sans and hopped up into the chair he claimed as his own at the table. Sans just kinda waddled to the chair next to him and struggled to pull himself up onto it. He was still very tired. Undyne let out a hearty laugh, setting the cups on the table before picking Sans up.

“Mornin', punks! How’re we feeling today?” Sans was tucked under her arm for a moment before she set him in the chair beside Alphys’s spot. The one next to Papyrus was hers. He looked a bit grouchy about that but didn’t protest in favor of laying his head on the table. She shot him an amused smirk,

“That bad, huh?”

“No! Sans is just being a lazy bones per usual! He feels much better today.” Papyrus announced, proudly explaining his brother’s emotions just based on how he was acting. The older brother brought his hand up to give a thumbs up, making both Alphys and Undyne laugh.

“Well, w-we thought we m-might take you b-both out to look for clothes t-today. Maybe even look at f-furniture for y-your rooms?” This seemed to stun each boy, especially Papyrus who seemed to brighten.

“LIKE A RACE CAR BED?”

“Maybe. We’d have to find one, first.” Undyne chuckled at the pure excitement radiating off the boy, but Sans seemed more uncertain. He did his best to hide it, but anyone spending money on him worried him. Like he expected them to want something in return. It just seemed like too much, and he kept his head down on the table to feign sleep.

“W-what about you, Sans? What k-kind of bed would you want?” Alphys seemed to pick up in his silence and set a bowl in front of him. It was leftover soup and pancakes, Sans slowly lifted his head at the smell. He looked tired and shrugged, staring at the food a bit uncomfortably.

“a fluffy one, i guess.” Sans waited until everyone else was wrapped up in their own food to eat. Papyrus shot him a look, maybe worry filled? That wasn’t even a deflection through pun, it was just a deflection.

“Well duh!!! That’s where the mattress comes in, what kinda  _ bed  _ do you want, though.”

“i guess race cars are pretty cool. you don’t have to tho-”

“PERFECT!” Undyne cut him off. She’d feel a bit bad about it later, but it seemed like all Sans wanted to do was tell them he didn’t need the things he wanted. “Then we’ll get you both race car beds.” They went back to eating. “We might have to go into the human city for those, though, so maybe not today.”

“Oh! So what will we do today?” Papyrus munched happily, swinging his feet under the table. The boys were both still in pajamas, fresh pairs the adults had purchased the day before, but they’d have to re-wear the clothes from the previous day.

“Hmmm, p-probably clothing shopping mostly now that S-Sans is feeling better. We got plenty of groceries yesterday.”

“uhm...” Sans swallowed and looked between Undyne and Alphys a bit awkwardly. “could we go to grillby’s for lunch maybe?

“S-sur-”

“DEFINITELY!” Undyne let out an awkward cough at the shock everyone at the table showed due to her outburst. Papyrus just looked a little... Was that smug? Sans shot him an annoyed look and the younger feigned innocence. “Yeah! Uh, that’s your favorite, right?” Undyne continued happily. Sans nodded slowly. “Then we’ll do that! Besides, Tori said Grillby had called her worriedly yesterday.” Guilt fell across Sans’s grin and he looked away, rubbing his shoulder.

“i may have run away from him the other night.”

“Pffsh like you did the rest of us?”

“yeah.” Sans began finishing up his food, not really willing to talk anymore. It was weird to have so much energy on board, he hasn’t had so many meals in a row since... Has he ever? Something told him he had at one point, but it hurt to think about so he pushed the thought away.

“Are we going to go to the human store? I’ve never been there before!!” Papyrus spoke quickly and excitedly, reading his brother’s discomfort.

“Yeah! Those guys may not have good food but they definitely make good clothes!”

“A-and anime.” Alphys added with a small smile.

“AND ANIME!” The fish monster agreed, snatching Papyrus from his chair and holding him in an arm before taking their dishes to put away. The tension in the room seemed to drop, and for that they were all thankful. Undyne dropped the dishes in the sink before leaving the kitchen with a giggling Pap. “YOU TWO BETTER GET READY TOO! FAMILY OUTING!” The drop of the word family made Sans’s eye sockets widen and he gasped a bit, but Alphys didn’t seem to be bothered and just shook her head with a small laugh.

“Y-you don’t have to g-go if you’re n-not feeling up to it, Sans. We w-won’t make you.”

“nah, i wanna apologize to grillby, i think he hurt his hand trying to go out for me in the rain.” Sans distinctly remembered the charring smell of fire magic and the sharp sound of it fizzling out, but hadn’t cared at the time.

“Oh! W-well just let me know i-if you need to come home early to-today. I won’t be mad.” She hummed happily and finished her cup of coffee before standing to clear off her dishes as well. The comment was much appreciated, and Sans felt some relief. His plate wasn’t empty yet and he was really full, but he didn’t want to be wasteful so he tried to eat it anyway. Usually this much food could be rationed out over a few days, but there didn’t seem to be the need for that here. Alphys waited for him to finish up, spending extra time to wash off the dishes just to wait for him. He tried to hurry, finally tipping the bowl back and drinking down the rest of it with a sigh.

“Here.” Alphys took his bowl and then ushered him up the stairs. It seemed that the excitement had even gotten to her. She split ways with him in the hall, walking into her and Undyne’s bedroom while Sans moved somewhat uncertainly to what he thought was the guest bedroom. Relieved that he had managed to pick the correct door, he began looking for his hoodie. While Sans was preoccupied with that, Papyrus flopped onto the bed, already dressed in the borrowed clothes from Frisk. Eventually Sans found the hoodie folded up in a chair. It certainly was not where he had put it the night before, but he just shrugged and slipped out of the super comfy pajamas Alphys and Undyne had picked up for him. The hoodie was a bit strange to him, only because it felt so different than the faded one he’d worn for so long. It made him wonder if that one had ever been so fluffy and comforting, but it probably hadn’t. He hoped not, that meant this one could end up just as frayed one day! It was also nice that they had picked up one that was just a bit too big. Maybe it had been accidental, but either way he felt like someone had wrapped him up in a blanket while wearing it. Papyrus brought him out of his thoughts.

“Sans? Are you ok?”

“hmn? oh, ‘course i am, bro.”

“Ok. Just...” The younger brother frowned. “Just make sure to tell me what you’re thinking! You’re still my brother even if we live here now.” Papyrus finished adjusting his scarf and folded Sans into a warm hug. It was interesting just how much heat the little skeleton could emit despite literally being all bones. Must have been how strong his magic was. After all, it would explain how cold Sans always was. He relaxed into the hug.

“i dunno, bro. ‘m just, lost.” He shifted in the hug before pulling back. Papyrus looked satisfied, placing his hands on his hips in a heroic pose.

“You aren’t lost! In fact, brother, I think we are the most found we’ve ever been!” The response didn’t seem to ease Sans, though he made an effort to smile wider.

“heh. guess so, bro.” He paused,  _ dunno if it’s the kind of found i wanted, though. _

_ ________________________________ _

The day went surprisingly better from there. The human store provided several more fluffy hoodies and a few reluctant pairs of jeans Alphys insisted on buying him. Papyrus had been enamored with all the colors and toys and different cuts of clothes the store had to offer, it made Sans grin a bit wider to watch him wander about through the aisles. He picked up every other article, to try it on if nothing else, but Sans was satisfied to stay to the side and watch from the bench beside the changing rooms with Undyne.

“Y’know, you can shop too.” The woman thumbed through a magazine idly, occasionally looking up to nod at something Alphys held up for her. Sans didn’t know how to respond to the comment, and sunk into his hoodie. The only things he had tried on were the few things Papyrus snagged him and demanded he try on, but other than that he pretty much let the two shoppers pick out all his clothes. He had no doubt that Pap and him would end up with some matching outfits.

“i  _ could _ , or i could sit here and nap.” Sans promptly shut his eye sockets for emphasis, and Undyne snorted in amusement.

“Well, we don’t have to shop for clothes. We could go look at, uhm. Video games, or movies, or toys... Anything you want.”

“... napping sounds good.” He vaguely registered an annoyed sigh from Undyne, he seemed to be good at getting those out of her, but he didn’t care. Papyrus would look at toys and movies and games, and he would watch his little brother light up with the options, only weighing in when the boy asked his opinion. That was just how things worked. There wasn’t enough money for both of them to have a good life, there never was.

He hadn’t meant to actually fall asleep, but the next thing he knew he was snoozing away.

________________________________

 

Sans woke up and wobbled unsteadily on whatever he sat upon. In his half asleep state he yelped and clenched his hands around whatever his head was resting on. Undyne let out a grunt beneath him, and he realized he’d nearly pulled out her hair. He relaxed his grip on the strands and untangled his hands from her hair. Skeletons and hair really didn’t mix well, a few caught pieces tugged at his joints uncomfortably.

“sorry.” He murmured into her hair groggily, taking a breath. He was perched up on the woman’s shoulders, giving him quite the view of the busy street. Alphys and Papyrus stood next to them, chatting away happily. He caught a few bits of conversation, something about anime.

“Finally awake, eh, lazybones?” Hands lightly gripped his legs, comfortingly.

“when did we leave the store?”

“Not too long ago, but you were out for at least an hour. Are you still feeling sick?” Worry entered her tone, and Sans shook his head before realizing she couldn’t see the motion.

“nah. just sleepy.-” His stomach rumbled- “and hungry.” Undyne gave a chuckle underneath him, shaking his body as well.

“Good thing we’re headin’ to Grillby’s then!” She spoke happily. They weren’t too far from the restaurant, actually, and they could see it just up the street. Papyrus glanced up and caught his brother’s eye with a genuine grin. Sans couldn’t help smiling back at the boy, relieved he seemed to be having a good time. Nervously, Sans felt at the pocket of his hoodie and let out a breath. It was padded with the long sleeved shirt Grillby had gotten for him. He felt bad for taking it for so long and silently hoped Grillby wouldn’t be irritated it wasn’t washed. Not that he thought he could actually irritate the man. Well, he might have gotten pretty close the other night. He winced at the thought and thumbed the cloth in his pocket idly.

He didn’t have the pleasure of wallowing his thoughts before Undyne picked him up from his shoulder and sat him back on the ground in front of the store. His clothes were crumpled oddly from sleep, one shoulder of the hoodie nearly fallen off of him, but he didn’t seem to notice. The three of them stood behind Sans, and he glanced back at them for a moment. They watched him expectantly, and he shrugged before leading them inside. Grillby had his back turned, not even looking over when the door opened. Sans moved to his stool which seemed to confuse Alphys and Undyne, but he lifted himself up onto it with a plop.

Grillby still didn’t turn, and he pulled out the shirt, folding it delicately on the counter and avoiding watching the man work by distracting himself with the view of the juke box. It had been broken long before he’d ever even come to Grillby’s the first time, but the colors were still pleasant. A few monsters had told him the music sucked anyway and that was the real reason Grillby never got it fixed, but he thought that was silly. You could always get new tracks.

The clink of a porcelain plate against the counter made him jolt slightly and turn back to Grillby staring at him. It was hard to tell what the flame’s expression ever was, but the flame seemed to flicker at the sight of the shirt. He looked back down at his lap.

“i’m sorry i couldn’t clean it before returning it, i just thought it’d be more important to get it back.” The flame flickered again, and Sans suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable. Why wasn’t he saying anything? “and uhm. i’m sorry about your hand.” His gaze flickered to the injury, part of the man’s left hand was blackened rather than the orange glow it usually had. Sadness welled within him suddenly and he looked up to make eye contact with Grillby, or the closest thing to it behind the man’s spectacles. “i’m sorry i can’t ever pay for my meals, and i’m sorry that i made you worry, and i’m sorry that i’m useless, i’m sorry you feel the need to look after me-” His voice catches, and he sniffles, not even realizing that tears were falling down his face until he stopped. Grillby quickly moved from behind the bar, Sans winced at the speed, expecting a hit, to be hurt. He shut his eyes tightly.

Pain never came, only the warmth of being engulfed in Grillby’s arms. It took him several long moments to realize he was being hugged, and his breath hiccuped again before he wrapped his arms around the man in return.

“i-i’m s-sorry tha-a-at i’m s-su-such a crybaby.” Sans wailed into the man’s chest, hoping the tears weren’t injuring him further.

“Stop that. You’re so strong and brave. The shirt was a gift, Sans. I didn’t want you to return it. It’s  _ yours _ .” Grillby sighed, grabbing the plate of food he’d laid out for the boy and walked over to the booth Papyrus and the two monster women sat at. He knew them vaguely, mostly by their titles, and sat the plate down. Sans was still curled up to his chest hiccuping, and Papyrus watched with a sad glint to his eye. The boy had called it; Sans hadn’t been alright at all. He felt bad for not doing something about it earlier, Sans  _ hated _ crying, but he wasn’t sure anything could have been done. Undyne and Alphys watched as the two approached the table with curiosity more than concern, and Grillby gave them a half shrug. “Are you ready to eat yet, Sans?” The boy nodded with a final sniffle and let Grillby set him down next to Alphys. The yellow monster quickly put an arm around him and hugged him close, trying to comfort him. Grillby’s heart swelled, he hoped these two caretakers would be able to understand what the boy needed. He was deserving of the world.

“So... Can I take your orders?” He spoke calmly, causing Undyne to let out an amused laugh and even Sans giggled a bit. Shy of Sans who already had his food, everyone gave their orders. Papyrus made it quite clear he wanted a large milkshake, no yeah, a  _ large _ milkshake. The biggest glass you have kind. It took a while for their orders to come out, so in the meantime, Sans happily shared his fries with the table. Undyne really seemed to like the food, Alphys had shrugged, saying it was typical bar food, and Papyrus had turned his nose up at the grease and settled on his milkshake happily enough. Once the check came and Undyne paid, making sure to add a hearty tip for all the man’s trouble, Grillby handed the shirt back to Sans on their way out.

“I bought it for you.” Grillby reiterated, letting a small smile grace his face as Sans took it back.

“why?” Sans asked, somewhat annoyed. It didn’t make sense.

“Because, you’ve helped me so much. I wanted to make sure you were ok.” The answer didn’t satisfy Sans in the least bit, but he accepted it for now and tucked the shirt back into his hoodie’s pocket.

“thanks, g. for everything.”

“... Don’t make it sound morbid.” The flame set a hand on Sans’s skull, patting him affectionately. “You can come help out anytime.” Sans grinned up at him, more genuinely than he’d ever seen. 

“will do. see ya’ around?”

“Certainly.” Grillby nodded to him and returned to his place at the bar. Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus were waiting for him by the door with varying levels of patience and he purposefully slowed his pace just to annoy them before shooting Grillby a wink and walking out.

It may not have been the kind of found he wanted, but it seemed to be a good kind nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyooo if you've liked this story so far please keep an eye on the series! I have soooo much planned, so much, and I'd hate for y'all to miss out ;) Have a nice day!
> 
> Comments and kudos?<3


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